Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, January 20, 1949
• The first meeting of the Verndale Commercial Club for the new year was held Monday evening at the Verndale Cafe. Superintendent Gordon Bluhm, the retiring president of the club, opened the meeting and gave a resume of the past year’s activities. Mr. James Thompson, the new president of the club, then took over the meeting. One of his first statements to the members was the need for more memberships and the necessity of taking care of unfinished business from the past year. Some of the members suggested a celebration this summer and more support for a baseball team, the need for a new community hall, etc.
• The second car of Agricultural Gypsum will soon arrive in Verndale. This car will be handled by Andy’s Cash Feed Store. The farmer who ordered the Agricultural Gypsum through the AAA office will be asked to get it direct from the car dealer to save handling charges. Other farmers will be notified when their cars arrive.
• The Verndale Pirates will get their toughest test of the basketball season tomorrow night (Friday) when they meet the Sebeka Trojans on the local court. Sebeka has a veteran squad that’s well-balanced with plenty of scoring punch. Back from last year’s team are: Tebben, Anderson, Bloomquist, Stelk and Niska—these boys make up the starting line up for the Trojans.
40 Years Ago, January 18, 1984
• A freak accident Sunday afternoon resulted in extensive damage to the front of Fred’s Verndale Grocery. Rodney Anderson had parked his pickup diagonally in front of his wife’s cafe two doors down the street about 3 p.m., leaving the motor running. According to police, there was no one in the vehicle when it slipped into reverse, backed out onto Main Street, making a U-turn and continued backing until it came to rest in the front door of Fred’s store.
• One and a half points was all that separated the first two teams at the BHV wrestling tournament held here Saturday. Eagle Bend needed a pin by Kevin King and Al Crider to squeeze out the victory. Only 60 points separated the first and last place teams, emphasizing the quality of the tournament. Each team had at least one champion. BHV had four champions: Mike Wutzke, Todd Kimber, Lee Truax and Duane Shaw.
• Very close games made for an interesting evening during the Verndale Booster Wednesday night basketball league last week. The Rangers surprised first place OFF by taking a 3-0 lead to start off their contest, and continued a strong defensive game throughout the encounter.
15 Years Ago, January 22, 2009
• In construction trades class at the Verndale High School they have been building a house to be sold in early spring. The construction of the main structure has been finished, such as the shingling and now they are working on the interior. The plumbing is nearly finished, and the basics have been set up, like the laundry hookups and main plumbing for the bathroom and kitchen.
• Matt Moenkedick was nominated as Red Zone Player. As a result of this achievement, Moenkedick is among a select group of players who are eligible to be selected as national Red Zone Player of the Year and be honored in a full page feature in USA Today in February.
• The Raiders started off the week with a trip to Battle Lake to take on the OTC Bulldogs. In an exciting dual that started off with big wins from Andrew Cihlar, Nick Bennett and Dakota Aeling, the Raiders controlled the dual and finished the night strong with pins from Jake Braaten, Matt Moenkedick and Colin Turchin.
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